Leora Saguna has become what her kind fear most a blood huntress. Fueled by a lust for revenge for the assassination of her Alpha, she has violated every Sangorrian law to track the murderers down. And one day return to her infant daughter, Katriel.

Each time Noah Chisca watches his mark take macabre delight in her task, he is one dead bandit closer to earning the highest bounty of his career. Yet he can t deny the desire that twists his gut. He takes her captive; she takes him as her mate.

“The Present ”

Katriel knows bonding with the mate her mother has chosen will ensure her future as heir. But the memory of the forbidden warrior monk who stole her heart haunts her, and she rebels.

Valyn s identity is hidden until he s proven himself worthy of Katriel. But fighting a deadly dragon is only the beginning of their nightmare, as sinister forces conspire to shake the foundations of Sangorrian society and unleash a reign of blood that may destroy them all.

This book has been previously published and has been extensively revised from its previous release.

Marlene: I picked this book because I met the author at a con and she remembered my reviews of her books Silverand Haevynover at the late, lamented Book Lovers, Inc. and on Reading Reality. While those reviews were not totally favorable, when I saw her name as the author of a new book, or at least a book both new to me and first in a series, I decided to give her another try.

Blood for Blood reminds me in a strange way of Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series. It has the same kind of dark and dangerous atmosphere, with sex and blood serving as the binding agent. Also, this society is a matriarchy where the women seem to have all the power after they mature, but are total pawns until they do. A lot of subtext in Blood for Blood is about the exchange of blood as a kind of metaphor for dominance/submission. Your mileage may definitely vary on that.

MinnChica: I have read Abriel in the past as well, and was intrigued enough by the blurb to give this book a try. The world building sounded super unique and different, however it is also extremely dark and twisted. This isn’t your typical romance either. The start of the book makes you believe the main characters to be Leora and Noah, however by the end of the book, it’s obvious that Leora’s daughter, Katriel and her mate Valyn are the true protagonists of this ongoing series.

Marlene: This is a revenge story, particularly in the case of revenge best being served cold. In the beginning, it seems relatively simple. Assassins killed Leora’s husband, so she became a huntress to find them and kill them all. But it’s not that simple. Leora’s people, the Sangorrians, are blood drinkers. Normally, they are sustained by the blood of their mates, and it is illegal to drink another’s blood. The Sangorrans used to be savage predators, and were in danger of wiping out their prey, other sentients, before they created their legal system.

Leora plans to kill herself before she can be dragged back home for trial, but after her last kill, she is stopped by a bounty hunter who wants to save her instead of turning her in. While she is eventually rehabilitated and survives justice, the son of her last victim vows her death. He just has to grow up first.

MinnChica: In many ways, Marlene is right. This book is more of a revenge story than anything else. Abriel does a good job of skipping POV between all the main characters throughout the book, including the man seeking retribution. This book is dark. Like…. super dark. If issues of rape and torture are trigger warnings for you, it might be best for you to skip this one. Abriel doesn’t pull her punches in terms of story telling, and there were times that it was uncomfortable for me to read some of the things that were going on.

Marlene: Even though it is Leora’s crime and punishment that begins the story, the story belongs to her daughter Katriel. The hard part about using Katriel as the point of view character is that the young woman is kept in the dark – not just about the destruction that is coming, but about everything it means to be a female Sangorrian. Her mother seems to have also kept her in the dark about how to run the principality she will inherit.

The rude awakening for young Sangorrian females is quite a shock all the way around. Maturity seems to descend like a hammer when they take a lifemate and first drink his blood. Katriel spends a lot of the story rebelling against her mother’s strictures because she doesn’t yet know what she is being protected from. And at 22, she does have the intellectual capacity to understand what’s going on – but no one tells her until it is too late.

MinnChica: While I like Katriel and Valyn’s romance, and thought in many ways it was epic and felt a bit like a fated mates type scenario, I did enjoy the two of them together. That being said, poor Katriel had a hard time growing up because everyone did keep her in the dark. Her mother didn’t want to burden her, her new mate didn’t want to worry her, and Katriel was left feeling like the odd man out. She was forced to grow up quickly, and sometimes it felt like she was constantly making bad decisions because of it. I would have liked to see her character grow in a more mature fashion.

Marlene: We also see some of the action from the very evil perspective, and this is definitely a villain with no redeemable characteristics whatsoever. He buys or steals slaves, forcibly addicts them to a drug that makes them sex slaves, and performs genetic experiments on them. This is not a head that anyone would want to be in for any length of time.

Now that I’ve finished Blood for Blood, I’m not quite sure I liked this book. It is very dark, in the sense that “things are always darkest just before they turn completely black”, but I felt compelled to finish it, if only to find out whether things were going to hell in the handbasket in the way that I thought they were. In the end, it was all much too dark and gruesome for me. But I know that there are readers who will eat it up with a spoon.
I give Blood for Blood a C+.

MinnChica: All in all, I thought this was a very interesting in book in terms of the world-building. Abriel has built a vast world, with many different characters that are well thought out and extremely complex. In that regard, I did enjoy the book. However, the subject matter was so dark and the lack of a strong romance subplot left me feeling like there was something missing.
I give Blood for Blood a C

Before I met Smoke I’d never been kissed, really kissed, by a man, let alone a biker sex god bent on taking my virginity and my heart.

I got dragged into the deadly world of the Iron Horse MC by my crazy twin sister who is engaged to the club’s President and even crazier mom who only cares about herself. Smoke has been assigned by the club to keep me safe even though he’s everything that I should be afraid of. He’s the kind of man who lives by his own rules and does whatever he wants whenever he wants, but he treats me like I’m something rare and precious, not a socially dysfunctional basket case who has no idea how to love, but needs him more than her next breath.

Not that my feelings matter, because if we don’t find my mother soon, the only thing I’ll have to be worried about is who is going to kill me first.

NOTE- This is Part One of a Two Part book with a ‘Happy for Now’ ending. Book Two, Exquisite Danger'(the final book in Swan and Smoke’s story) will be out this Oct/November.

*blurb taken from Goodreads*

Lou: I have a love/hate relationship with MC romances at the moment. I abhor how women are treated and the misogyny stinks so bad that I choke on it. Yet Exquisite Trouble is the first MC romance where I was like, GIMMIE MOAR RIGHT NOW. The hero is a smoking-hawt biker hero named Smoke, who is totally and utterly into the heroine. I mean, he’s so so into her (physically speaking also. heh heh heh) which I love. Swan is the likeable, horny virgin heroine who loves watching BDSM porn. She has a screwed up family background with a step-mum as a former mobster assassin and a survivalist father. You can’t make this shit up! Her twin sister, Sarah, is the old lady of Beach, who runs the Iron Horse MC. Mayburn’s writing and characters are so addictive that she’s almost making me break my self-imposed ban on buying books for the next two months so I can buy her entire backlist.

Has: I have the same kind of relationship with MC books too and there is only a handful of authors who have managed to deliver a good story with great characters without the pitfalls of what this setting could bring. I am so glad you liked my recommendation of this book because I knew you would enjoy the romance and the MC aspect which was crazy fun, even though it got dark in places.

I was really drawn to Swan’s character, which Mayburn did a great job in creating so many different layers and I loved how well adjusted and resourceful she was despite the crazy and abusive upbringing she had. I also liked how her thinking processes worked and it gave her character a really different and unique insight which I really enjoyed and it added a wonderful dimension to the romance and story.

Lou: It was a fun book to read. I know there is a lot of derisive comments made about virgin heroines in romance but I think virgin bashing is just as bad as slut shaming. Swan was a fun character. Her enthusiasm for Smoke was fun to read because having the hero and heroine be totally into each other just makes the romance work better for me. Swan was different because of her family history, which I thought was totally bizarre. I didn’t know you could split up twins where both parents take one kid. Anyway, Swan is forced into this biker world because of her twin, Sarah, and their mother. Swan loved her sister but she also had issues with her from their own history. Swan ignored her for two years, and I understood why. But the author did a great job in making Swan realise that her twin was a different woman now, and that Swan didn’t know her as well as she thought she did.

Swan and Smoke’s were made for one another. Their sexual attraction was off the freaking charts and I loved the dirty talk and the dirty, messy sex scenes. Dirty effing hawt! I loved that for most of the book, Smoke concentrated on getting Swan off for her pleasure alone.

Has: There was definitely a soap opera feel with the twins being split up and the insane crazy antics of her family which was really entertaining although it did stretch the believability factor at times. And as for the virgin heroine trope, I really don’t mind it and Mayburn did a fabulous job with Swan who fully embraced and explored her sexuality with a great hero. And oh how much did I love Smoke! He was the epitome of growly alpha smexy male and I definitely agree their chemistry was sizzling and that was partly due to the hot sex scenes!

The MC element was also well done, and although it did have darker aspects, I thought it was well done, and I was intrigued by the other secondary characters who gave the story colour and life and made it such a vibrant read.

Lou: MC will always have darker aspects because of the MC life. I enjoyed that though it didn’t shy away from it’s violent nature, the entire book concentrated mostly on Swan and Smoke. It’s a very romantic book and I loved it. Swan and Smoke have lots of hot, messy sex but there’s also tension between the two, especially in the form of Smoke’s sister-in-law. I think there is more to come from that corner in book two. There’s nothing tortured about Smoke’s background. He is who he is and I loved that though he is an arrogant arse, he’s not hateful towards women like I’ve read in other MC books. God, just writing that sounds incredibly sucky and depressive, doesn’t it?

I’m starting to blabber on so I’ll just state if you want a dirty biker MC romance with an engaging author voice in Ann Mayburn, then you need to read this book.

I give it a B+

Has: LOL! I think this is why this series worked so well for me, although I will warn you the second book gets a bit more darker and violent especially towards the end, although the over the top characters and plot along with the great cast of characters is just as engaging. I think Ann Mayburn has a created a lush series with a wonderful romance and memorable characters.

Exquisite Trouble is a fabulous start to a series and I can honestly I am totally hooked, because I was antzing for the release of the sequel for months before it got released. I am also happy, that the third book will focus on Swan’s sister who promises to be larger than life character and will be interesting to see her story.

]]>http://thebookpushers.com/2015/01/21/joint-review-exquisite-trouble-iron-horse-mc-1-by-ann-mayburn/feed/1Joint Review: Last Hit: Reloaded by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederickhttp://thebookpushers.com/2015/01/19/joint-review-last-hit-reloaded-by-jessica-clare-and-jen-frederick/
http://thebookpushers.com/2015/01/19/joint-review-last-hit-reloaded-by-jessica-clare-and-jen-frederick/#commentsMon, 19 Jan 2015 13:00:52 +0000http://thebookpushers.com/?p=21640Joint Review: Last Hit: Reloaded by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter
]]>Publisher: Berkley
How did you get the book: Authors
Release date: 20th January

There was a time when Nick loved the fear he instilled in his enemies. His tattoos alone promised danger, but it was the look in his eyes that delivered on it. A contract killer since he was just a boy, Nick has now forged a new life and a new identity with the woman who followed him, captured him, and changed him.

He terrified Daisy. Once. But she couldn’t resist, and she ignored every warning. It paid off. Now she’s part of a new beginning, a fresh start in America helping him to leave behind a reckless and violent past as a professional killer. But the past is never easy to outrun, especially when so much of it thrives on revenge.

A new threat has emerged from the shadows, and now Nick and Daisy have no choice but to rely on Nick’s killer skills to protect them from everything they’ve tried so hard to escape.

*blurb taken from Goodreads*

Lou: I’m a huge fan of Jen Frederick’s books, and the Last Hitman series co-written with the amazing Jessica Clare is fast becoming my go-to for hot dirty romances with anti-heroes who freaking adore their heroines like woah. In the first book, I couldn’t warm up to Nick but in Reloaded, Jen and Jessica managed to make me fall a little in love with him. Nick was so romantic with Daisy in this book. Utterly romantic. And dirty. Very dirty hawt. His character is going through a journey and he’s still in transition from hired mobster assassin to art-student attending college. He and Daisy are making a home for themselves but it’s not going smoothly. Neither of them had a childhood. They don’t know how to integrate into college life and their vulnerability was a little heart-breaking, especially when the party they threw together was disastrous.

Has: I loved loved loved the new developments to their characters and lives. I found their romance incredibly sweet and I agree with you about the new changes in their lives as well as their growth. I also felt that even though they’re still adjusting, they also remain true to themselves with making awkward decisions to try to fit in and become normal. Although I think they made their own normality because of their unconventional upbringing and they both knew what really made a friendship and what being a family really meant.

So I really enjoyed the insight of trying to fit in despite their past, and Jen Frederick and Jessica Clare did a great job with this little interlude.

Lou: Their awkwardness was both endearing and a little sad because Daisy wanted friends so badly. Ah. My heart was hurting for her. When she strikes up a one-sided friendship with Christine, I was like, this girl needs a BFF right now. I was like, fly Regan to Daisy for a girlie night in! Christine had her own troubles–and I really enjoyed the slight suspense Jen and Jessica included in this novella–but she did use Daisy. Daisy was so excited to have a friend, and Nick was kinda adorable in not wanting to share his Daisy. Nick is still very possessive of Daisy but in this novella there’s this deep love he has for her that really shines through. He understands her completely, and though I don’t think he will ever shed his possessive nature, he curbs it to a degree because he knows how troubled Daisy still is about her father and the abuse her put her through.

Has: This! I loved that Nick gave her space even though his instincts at times were at overprotective mode, but I also liked how Daisy got out of her shell a bit more and it showed how much she changed from the shy introvert from the first book. And even though Nick wasn’t keen on her friendship with Christine, I liked that she was stubborn and was determined to help her out even though most people would have ignored her.

The touch of suspense also introduced an intriguing new character who I hope we get to see more in the future because he certainly made me curious about his background and past.

Lou: The fact both Daisy and Nick are attending college shows just how far they’ve come. Even Daisy’s relationship with her father is healing in some ways. The slight element of suspense was perfect because anything more in-depth and it would have sunk in a novella length.

Yes! Oliver McFadden, you dirty thing you. I want to see more of him because his name alone screams hero material in the Hitman hero archetype sort of way. That’s all I say coz spoilers. This book was about revisiting Daisy and Nick, and I’m so happy because this novella made me love these two characters. I hope we see them again in another novella or as side-characters in a future Hitman book. I can see Nick and Oliver working together in their own screwed-up version of justice. It’ll be interesting to see how Jen and Jessica will take Oliver’s character.

I loved this novella and I’m so excited for Last Kiss, the upcoming book in the Hitman series. I give Last Hit: Reloaded a stonking A.

Has: I loved this novella and it really helped to cement Nick and Daisy’s romance and I adored their eccentricities and awkwardness which added a really sweet and delightful tone to their relationship. It also helped to balance the darker aspects of this series. But overall, Last Hit: Reloaded is a fantastic little followup which illustrated how far these characters have come from their first story. From their romance to the suspense side-plot, it firmly places this series as one of my new favourite romance series!

“Playing the part of another man’s husband to fulfil a wish is easy, but what happens at midnight when the magical day is over? Scott Baxter is a workaholic with no time for love, until a djinn pulls him out of his life and deposits him into the bed of Cameron Kirk. Cut off from his life, Scott isn’t happy about the idea of being forced to help the djinn grant an unspecified wish, but he soon finds he has no real choice in the matter. The djinn, who has turned his life upside down, has powers that prevent Scott from leaving and ensure he does nothing to ruin Cameron’s day with his ‘husband’.

Reluctant at first, Scott finds that as the day progresses he starts to enjoy playing the role of Cameron’s husband. He connects with his unexpected lover in a way he never has with other men.Scott searches for clues to help him track down Cameron after the day is over and he returns to his own life. He doesn’t want the day to end, but the wish is out of his control and when the magic is finished his time with Cameron may be over too.”

This was a fun and sexy little magical frolic. A workaholic wakes up thrown into the role of a perfect stranger’s husband thanks to a wish that a djinn needs to fulfill. The magic is only supposed to last for a day and it was all puppies and Christmas until I got to the part where we found who made the wish…that got me right in the feels. There had an unexpected and clever twist that I never saw coming. Well done, L.M. Brown for taking an erotic short and adding an emotional layer that took this to another level. This was a smart and spicy story. I’ll be checking out more from the author.

A soot-haired chimney sweep, an exploding flue and an uncooked turkey. It’s an unholy trinity that may make all of Dominic’s Christmas wishes come true.

“Dominic is celebrating his first Christmas since his divorce, and although he’s spending it on his own, he’s determined to have a traditional Christmas morning, including a roaring fire. Unfortunately, Dominic’s chimney is blocked, which is why Reagan, a soot-haired chimney sweep, is head and shoulders up Dominic’s flue. Dominic is just lucky the man had a cancellation on Christmas Eve.

Unable to take his eyes off Reagan’s low-slung jeans and enticing ass while he sets about the hearth with rods and brushes, Dominic knows five years is a long time to be obsessed with the man who sweeps his chimney every Christmas. This year there’s nothing to stop Dominic from acting on his desires—except his own insecurities. An exploding flue provides the opportunity for more than just polite conversation and could be the catalyst for a perfect Christmas. But Dominic will need to stop hiding who he really is before a special sweep can light a fire in his heart.”

Publisher’s Note: This book was previously released by another publisher. It has been revised and re-edited for release with Totally Bound Publishing.

A fun and sexy Christmas novella about a recently divorced lawyer and the man who cleans his chimney every year. We get POVs from both men which I really enjoyed because I found Dominic adorable with his crush and Reagan’s moment when he realized he was the object of it was priceless.

I had a great time with this read. I loved the MCs and the relationship between Reagan his mother was lovely. For a shorter read this packed a wonderful little emotional punch that didn’t rely solely on the incredibly hot sex but included the dialogue and fantasies as well.
Definitely checking out other books by the author.

]]>http://thebookpushers.com/2014/12/05/mini-review-when-love-flue-in-by-lillian-francis/feed/0Review: Owning Violet by Monica Murphyhttp://thebookpushers.com/2014/12/01/review-owning-violet-by-monica-murphy/
http://thebookpushers.com/2014/12/01/review-owning-violet-by-monica-murphy/#respondMon, 01 Dec 2014 13:00:19 +0000http://thebookpushers.com/?p=21313Review: Owning Violet by Monica Murphy is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter
]]>Publisher: Bantam
Where did you get the book: e-ARC from publisher
Release date: 2nd December

New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy begins a sexy new contemporary romance series—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Emma Chase—that introduces three sisters born to wealth, raised to succeed, ready to love, destined to make waves.

I’ve moved through life doing what’s expected of me. I’m the middle daughter, the dutiful daughter. The one who braved a vicious attack and survived. The one who devoted herself to her family’s business empire. The one who met an ambitious man and fell in love. We were going to run Fleur Cosmetics together, Zachary and I.

Until he got a promotion and left me in the dust. Maybe it’s for the best, between his disloyalty and his wandering eye. But another man was waiting for me. Wanting me. He too has an overwhelming thirst for success, just like Zachary—perhaps even more so. He’s also ruthless. And mysterious. I know nothing about Ryder McKay beyond that he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.

One stolen moment, a kiss, a touch . . . and I’m hooked. Ryder’s like a powerful drug, and I’m an addict who doesn’t want to be cured. He tells me his intentions aren’t pure, and I believe him. For once, I don’t care. I’m willing to risk everything just to be with him. Including my heart. My soul.

My everything.

*blurb taken from Goodreads*

This is a hard review for me to write. While I had no issues with the quality of the writing and enjoyed the smexy scenes, I didn’t like the multitude of characters in the story, including the hero and heroine.

I would class this book as a NA meets soap opera which is not my type of read. From the hero, Ryder, to his scheming lover, Pilar, to the heroine’s fiancee, Zachary, there’s not a decent person amongst the lot. They’re all scheming and using the heroine to advance their own personal gain, and it all felt rather tawdry. Ryder has his tortured history from which his on-and-off lover, Pilar, rescued him and since then they’ve had this screwed-up relationship which stank of unhealthiness. Ryder is attracted to Violet and wants her but a part of the attraction for him was that she’s the owner’s daughter and she’s Zachary’s fiancee, who Ryder can’t stand.

Ryder is all sorts of screwed up but not once did I feel he was heroic material. Even after he felt guilty for the lies he was telling Violet, he still treated her like crap. The possessiveness was not sexy and I wanted Violet to run away from them all. Violet had her past history in she became passive when her fiance cheated throughout their relationship, and why she turned a blind eye. She did eventually grow a backbone with Zachary but she reverted back to type when it came to Ryder. She doesn’t let him walk all over her but she takes him back after he treats her like crap. The sexual scenes between Ryder and Violet did have chemistry but outside of the bedroom, Ryder was again a horrible asshole. He ran hot and extremely cold with Violet. Abruptly so. It all felt rather immature.

By the 60% mark of the book, the plot was starting to fizzle out and while I was expecting a huge reveal of what Ryder and Pilar had schemed up, nothing happened. Pilar’s storyline turns into the bizarre (and icky) and instead of Pilar getting her upcommence, she actually advances (icky) and Violet and Ryder get their HEA in which she forgives him for his shitty and manipulative behaviour. WHY, VIOLET, WHY? I was also expecting a storyline to develop which related to her past but it never showed up. I did like what I saw of Rose, the other sister, and Lily intrigued me with her past drug habit but if it’s the same type of soap-opera style then I don’t think I’ll pick up their books.

I give Owning Violet a D. While the sex scenes were good, I really disliked the characters.

“Now that Nolan Penrith is finished with the “Farmer Wants a Wife” reality show, he’s ready to get back to the farm and a normal life free of publicity. Normal also means resuming his relationship with divorced, solo mother Yvonne McDonald.

Except she seems determined to resist any talk of reconciliation. On to plan B: woo her to his way of thinking. And if persuasion includes plenty of raunchy sex, he’s ready to man up.

Yvonne McDonald might still have feelings for Nolan, but she resents the way he expects to pick up right where they left off. Still, she’s a healthy woman with a body that damn it melts for him, so maybe she can twist this situation to suit her needs.

All she needs to do is hold her heart out of reach, hold her head high, and enjoy his brand of lusty sex without a care in the world. Easy-peasy. At least until her plan gets a little kink in it.

Warning: Contains hot country loving between an arrogant, sexy farmer and a woman who intends to prick his confidence and slap him down her way!”

This book is a first in a series but it reads more like the third or fourth book. There’s a series prior to this one where a lot of the characters and story lines originate and although I could piece things together I don’t think that’s something that I should have to do.

Nolan is a farmer who dumped his girlfriend (not that he actually called her that) in order to be in a reality show called the “Farmer Wants a Wife”. He was basically forced into the show by his mother but prior to this he didn’t really publicly acknowledge the woman he was sleeping
with, Yvonne. He said it was to protect her from his mother but it actually did nothing to stop her in the long run because the mother trashed her anyway. The reality show is over and he’s back to pick things up where he left off but Yvonne is pissed off and isn’t having it.

The majority of the story is Nolan trying to get back into Yvonne’s good graces.

What I liked about the story. It’s well written with some great dialogue flow. The sex is hot and varied and Yvonne really owns her sexuality. She likes what she likes and she’s not afraid to try new things. I was impressed that the author wrote a sexually adventurous take charge female in bed.

What I didn’t like. Being thrown into already existing story lines and having to catch up with characters that I don’t know when it’s assumed that I do. I also didn’t care to see that Yvonne’s ex-husband was made out to be an evil gay man who tricked her into a menage with another man and then totally slut shamed her for liking sex. Not cool.

This is a sexy story but if you’re new to this author like I am I’d recommend you read her Love and Friendship series before tackling this one so you won’t be as lost as I was when reading it. As a new reader I’m giving this one a C+ but if you’re a fan and familiar with her characters and story lines I’d bump this up to a B-

Publisher: Totally Bound
Publish Date: Out Now
Reviewed by: Heller
How I got this book: E-Arc from Publisher

Campus Cravings #19

Love is a give and take, whether shared by two men or three.

“After the devastating loss of his parents, Rusty Bonham feels like he is floating through life without an anchor. The problem, he discovers, is the anchor he wants is already tied to another man, an equally hot professor.

Professors Adam Ryan and Manuel Corto Delgado believed they had the perfect life, but everything changed the day Rusty walked into Adam’s classroom and sat in the front row. Four years later, Adam and Manuel still want Rusty, but it wasn’t until Rusty fell victim to an attack that they decided to do something about it.Inviting Rusty into their bed and lives turned out to be the easy part, but when Rusty reveals a secret, they discover the challenge will be keeping him there.”

Maybe it was a mistake to jump into an established series on such a late book. There’s quite a bit of character crossover in this one with what seems like a loose plot thread on the campus attacks connecting them all. The story was firmly plotted to the three men but I may have enjoyed it more knowing the surrounding characters. The concept is something that I enjoy and I was looking forward to the older men bringing the younger Rusty into their established relationship. Unfortunately, the trio didn’t work as a menage for me. I found the dynamic between the couples a bit odd. Sometimes the men worked together but more only when Rusty interacted with the separate men and they seemed to suit then but as a menage it felt really unbalanced with threads of intense jealousy running through it. When each member of the menage feels strongly like an outsider at different points in the story, that rings a warning bell for me.

In the end I think I was more intrigued with the secondary characters because the MCs relationship just had issue after issue both logistically and emotionally. I don’t see it lasting long despite the protestations of love from them all. This didn’t work for me.

]]>http://thebookpushers.com/2014/11/17/review-professor-sandwich-by-carol-lynne/feed/0Halloween Special Review: Brides of the Monsters by Natalie Deschain & Audrey Gracehttp://thebookpushers.com/2014/10/30/halloween-special-review-brides-of-the-monsters-by-natalie-deschain-audrey-grace/
http://thebookpushers.com/2014/10/30/halloween-special-review-brides-of-the-monsters-by-natalie-deschain-audrey-grace/#respondThu, 30 Oct 2014 13:00:26 +0000http://thebookpushers.com/?p=21023Halloween Special Review: Brides of the Monsters by Natalie Deschain & Audrey Grace is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter
]]>Where did you get the book: Bought

Publisher: Self published

Release date: Out now

Nine brides meet their monsters in this sensual erotica collection from Natalie Deschain, with a guest story by Audrey Grace.

Past and future, in worlds of fantasy and places closer to home, dark things gather in the shadows and monsters lurk, but demons and aliens and monstrous gods need love, too.

Bride of the Alien Beast

Jessica Barnes has always been a troublemaker. Faced with a dishonorable discharge, she takes an offer to join a secret research program to create superhuman soldiers by combining human genetic material with that of an alien- the old fashioned way.

Bride of the Swamp Beast

At the tail end of her lackluster stint in the Army, Olivia White finds herself signed on to a hidden research facility in the deep swamps, where mad science and human ambition have combined to create something terrible, but the hulking monster lurking in the darkness may be her only hope.

Bride of the Sea Monster

Christie has been waiting for her wedding night as long as she can remember, but her new husband has refused to touch her until they return home. In the coastal hamlet where they take their honeymoon, a terrible secret waits. Can she love a monster?

Bride of the Storm God

Heather’s village will die unless the drought ends, but the only way to end the drought is to find and placate the Storm God. Only the purest, most beautiful sacrifice will do, and Heather is chosen.

Bride of the Demon Beast

One night while driving through a lonely stretch of uninhabited back country, Jessica suffers all sorts of troubles. A torrential downpour, a dead cell phone, and a broken down engine. The tiny town where she takes refuges shelters a demonic cult looking for a sacrifice to their strange master, but all is not as it seems.

Bride of the Werewolf King

In the depths of the Black Forest, a secret military unit investigates terrible secrets from wars past, and awakens the ancient werewolf king, who desires the last survivor as his queen.

Bride of the Horned God

Once in a generation, the Horned God emerges from his lair to choose a new Queen of Spring.

On a tropical vacation, Eliza Summers draws the attention of a deep sea creature.

*Blurb taken from Goodreads*

Heller: Has knows my love of weird peen. (Don’t judge people!) She asked if I wanted to review this collection for Halloween. How could I resist?

First of all let me say that I was really impressed by the stories here. I was expecting down and dirty monster erotica but got instead pretty clever and tightly written stories that I actually wouldn’t mind seeing expanded on. The sex was well written but so were the characters and the story lines. I liked this quite a bit.

Has: I was also taken by surprise by how much I liked these stories and I was expecting something really horrific in terms of its themes and from previous experience when Heller has recommended me dickterrifying books which I would then respond back with similar books. But Brides of the Monsters had some pretty good stories even if the bridegrooms were facially or bodily challenged and gigantically endowed.

The first story Bride of the Alien Beast stood out for me and became one of my favourites although a latter story ended up as the best story in the collection. However, I knew I was going to enjoy this collection because it was well written and I wished that a few stories ended up as a novella or even a full story. The opening story featured a captured alien being who was huge all over and with four arms which becomes very useful during mating! I also liked the heroine who is tricked into mating with him for scientific experiments but ends up turning the tables at the end.

Heller: I definitely agree. The first story here was a standout. I really liked the set up and that the female soldier was a bit badass. She was up for court martial but given the choice to take part in the top secret military project. This one, like all of them, was short but packed full of detail with, I thought, some very natural dialogue and interesting stories. I thought the alien beast, Zeke, was VERY alien but wow, that sex scene was amazingly hot. I could have definitely read a longer story with these characters.

Has: I definitely agree! The Bride of the Swamp Beast also had a similar feel and premise to the first story, again I wished it was longer because the action scenes was well done. I also never thought that a swamp man could actually be sexy or sweet or intense sex.

Nonetheless, I think my favourite story of the entire collection was Bride of the Sea Monster. It is very romantic and sweeter in tone compared to most of the stories in this book, and it also features what every favourite lover of the weird and wonderful world of unusual penises. Tentacles! Which Heller knows is our favourite requirement for erotic stories like these! I thought this story was really sweet although I had an uh oh moment when the bridegroom’s parents were into the fishing industry. And the wedding ceremony at the end of the story was rather interesting although I have to disagree with the title calling him a sea monster when he was anything of the sort.

Heller: The Swamp beast story was sweet! How unexpected was that? I really got a kick out how the author managed to make all the monsters very unique. I liked that they were all different and were more than just interesting peen.

Yes, can I say the tentacles story was quite an eye-opener? I loved the set up but I’m laughing because, like Has, when I saw he was from a family of lobster fisherman I was all…uh oh. This one was oddly sweet as well with some great tentacle sex. Not that I’m an aficionado or anything.

Has: LOL that is what I liked about these stories, the humour was sometimes subtle, or other times tongue in cheek with the in-jokes which cracked me up. It was definitely better than what I expected and I ended up enjoying the stories much more despite the wtfery set up or premises.

I also liked the Bride of the Storm God which has the heroine sacrificed to a god to help produce rain during a drought and a good theme of this collection if it doesn’t have claws, scales or tentacles then it will have horns. I liked this story compared to one later in this omnibus which didn’t really appeal to me. I found the first half of this collection to be much stronger than the second half which was more sex focused or darker in tone which didn’t really appeal to me. But it was well written even though I wasn’t keen on these second set of stories.

Heller: I think one of the things I really enjoyed out of these stories was that all the monsters got their HEA! It wasn’t just a quick screw but there were interesting transformations that happened that I found gave the collection a fun and dare I say romantic twist to than regular old monster porn.

Has: Yes! And despite the crazy setting and plots it worked. The Bride of the Demon Beast though was not my favourite story. I just couldn’t warm up to the story and it was darker in tone. I was also not keen on The Horned God or the Alien Warlord which became porny and really surreal with a weird semi orgy and worship sex scene with the former and a crazy take on exhibition and dominance with the latter. Also I could not believe or want the image in my head of the president of America would embark on full on monkey sex in front of the cameras after being conquered by her alien warlord. Although the premise cracked me up because it was so all out there and hilarious.

Heller: I didn’t mind the darker stories so the Demon Beast, Horned God and Werewolf King were good reads for me. I actually liked the twist that the Demon Beast had and how the tables were turned on the townspeople. The Alien Warlord was super cheesy and my least favorite of the bunch. My eyes rolled more than a few times at the dialogue and situation with this one. I could have done without it and I’d almost say just skip it because it’s the weakest of the bunch. I also found the last story, which was written by different author, to be more straight up erotica than the others. Not a bad thing, and honestly more like how I was expecting the collection to be initially, but when comparing it to the others I found it a bit lacking in a unique spin on the monster theme. It did have tentacles though so a win there!

All in all this was an unexpectedly fun and sexy read for me. Great Halloween pick, Has!

Has: I also agree about the final few stories especially the last one despite it featuring tentacles, it didn’t gel well with the rest of the stories but I do think this was a fun sexy read for this Halloween. If you fancy something quick, sexy and even funny with a monster mash edge and weird peens then go for this anthology! I also found this collection as good value for money with the quality and amount of stories, especially when each story as a single cost almost as much, so it was well worth it. I am glad my book radar pinged on a good choice this time because I was thoroughly entertained with this collection.

I give Brides of the Monsters a B

Heller: Yay for Has’ book radar! This was a complete surprise. What a treat! I’m giving Brides of the Monsters a B+

Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: Out now
How I got this book: ARC from the publisher

A little southern charm, and a Yes, Mistress, goes a long way

Rex Samson is at the top of his game. His business is booming, his family loves him, and there’s not a woman—or man—he can’t charm. Until he meets Natalie Wielder, a tough-as-nails city planner who doesn’t fall at his feet. She’s firm, sexy, and exactly what he needs. A woman to put him in his place.

Nat has better things to do than play with the mayor’s golden boy, but orders are orders, and she accompanies him to a mandatory social function. To her shock, she thoroughly enjoys herself…and breaks rule number one—No dating the enemy.

Rex is charming, sexy, and fun to be around. Even a brief encounter with a sexy stranger can’t put her off memories of Rex’s smile. Except her sexy stranger and Rex turn out to be the same man. Now her secrets are exposed, his are shockingly arousing, and her policy on not mixing business and pleasure—rule number two—has gone by the wayside.

What else can she do but say yes when Rex has no problem letting her take the lead in bed? Before long, she knows she can’t live without him. But Rex’s kinky proclivities mirror hers—neither of which are good for her career. Loving him might mean losing what she’s worked so hard to attain. But soon she’ll have to figure out what’s important in life. Her rules, or love?

PRODUCT WARNINGS
Contains a successful, carefree hedonist who wants to be dominated, and a sexy, career-minded vixen who is more than willing to oblige. Not one drop of vanilla in sight. Enjoy!
This blurb came from the author’s website.

I have enjoyed Harte’s Wicked Warrens series since the beginning so I will admit I put off reading this last one because if I didn’t read it the series never ended. At least that is my story and I am sticking to it. Earlier this year I reviewed the 4th installment Making the Grade, and expressed a wish that a certain “friend” would get his story. Well Harte certainly delivered. One of the things I have enjoyed about this series is how each succeeding series ups the stakes with romance, social acceptance, and decisions about what is really a priority. Bending the Rules was no exception much to my enjoyment.

Nat grew up in a family who needed her to step and take charge from a young age. Her control extended past her family to both her work and her private life. She works in a male dominated field and as a result has had to put in a lot of work and kept certainly aspects of her personality extremely private to get to where she is. She enjoys dominating men during sex and enjoys even more controlling the interaction of two men together. However, after dealing with some individuals who could not professionally deal with a woman in charge she developed a rule of NEVER mixing business with pleasure. With a morality clause for her most recent job, having to fend off the mayor’s son from taking her job, and working in a relatively smallish town Nat’s opportunities to relax and enjoy were not very frequent. Then Nat ends up taking a chance.

Rex was a rather successful business owner who got along with and managed to charm everyone he encounters. However, his friends were all in solid relationships and he was beginning to feel the lack of something to call his own when he spotted Nat. He was a sensualist who didn’t discriminate when it came to gender for watching or participating but his absolute favorite was to be under the control of a strong women who could get into his head and know he was striving to please her. He thought Nat would be an entertaining date but as he watched her in action and realized he had to work a lot harder than expected to get any of her time he started to wonder if there was more.

I really enjoyed the slow dance between Rex and Nat with the help of his friends. He gently pushed and manipulated yet gave Nat all of the decisions and allowed her to decide if/when to take their friendship to the next level. I loved how he respected her decisions and wishes for privacy. He was such a strong man and so supportive without being resentful of Nat’s job or her need for control. Even when it appeared as if she ceded control to him, he still seemed to ask permission with his every move to make sure she approved before doing it. Then when sh*t hit the fan and it seemed as if Nat’s worse fears came to fruition he gave her the space she requested and waited regardless of how difficult it was for him. I really respected his character for how he handled everything and it made me think they had a real chance as a couple.

In addition to Nat and Rex’s relationship, it was good to see the rest of the group from previous installments and also to meet Nat’s family. Like the last book, I missed the Warren Matriarch’s involvement but it seemed as if her children picked up some of her interfering ways. I also liked how Nat’s co-workers reacted and their combinations of subtle and outspoken support. Harte’s supporting characters really demonstrated a nice cross-section of humanity without being heavy-handed which I appreciated. I even managed to scrape up a few dregs of pity for a couple of the characters because their unhappiness was of the much more permanent kind.

While I am sorry to see the Wicked Warrens leave, Bending the Rules ended the series on a high point. Between the romance, the maturity level of the characters, and Harte’s trademark heat I was extremely satisfied. This is a series I certainly plan on re-reading.